S.C. Killer Dylann Roof’s Segregation Inspiration: The Council of Conservative Citizens and the Politicians Who Pander to Them

In his own words, Dylann Roof’s path from a child “not raised in a racist home or environment” to the 21-year-old white supremacist who shot and killed nine men and women in a historic black church in Charleston last Wednesday evening began with the discovery of a website.

After the murder of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager, in 2012, Roof claimed he was “awakened.” In the manifesto he published to his personal website, LastRhodesian.com, Roof wrote that Martin’s murder prompted him to search for “black on White crime [sic],” on Google, which led him to the Council of Conservative Citizens.